The following article is a translation from The Yomiuri Shimbun's Education Renaissance series and is the fourth installment in a five-article part of the series that looks into activities of the Newspapers in Education (NIE) movement. It focuses on Saturday lessons in Tokyo's Suginami Ward meant to encourage parents and their children to read news reports together so they can discuss various matters of social concern. By Yuka Sumiyoshi　Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer Students at Honan Primary School in Suginami Ward, Tokyo , read newspaper articles with their parents during a special special Saturday class on Oct.8. 　 "When do you feel baka [foolish]?" a teacher asked, singling out the mother of a student. The mother replied, "Probably when I've seasoned food the wrong way." The answer drew an unintentional laugh from the students, including the woman's primary school-age daughter, seated next to her. 　This humorous give-and-take took place during a Saturday school session held in Honan Primary School in Suginami Ward on Oct. 8. The special class was held as part of the NIE programs, designed to encourage parents and their children to study newspaper articles together. A classroom used as the venue for the program was packed with about 90 attendees. 　There are many views about the origin of the word "baka," which comprises two kanji characters meaning horse and deer. According to one theory based on an ancient Chinese legend, a high-ranking government official maintained that the animal he brought as an offering to the emperor was a horse, even though it was obviously a deer. He later laid false charges against some officials who denied his claim that it was a horse. 　At the beginning of the Oct. 8 class, some students and parents performed a short drama about this story, to help the audience understand the potential danger of providing false information to people in power. 　After learning media literacy tips through the performance, the attendees of the Saturday class began selecting newspaper articles they were interested in and cutting them out. 　Fuki Tanaka, 11, chose a story about dinosaurs. He told his mother, Naomi, that he chose the story because he was "practicing a song about coelacanth in the music club" he belonged to. 　The 44-year-old mother happily said, "I've often heard my son singing the 'coelacanth' lyrics while taking a bath. Today I found out why and understood how much he likes dinosaurs." 　A Saturday class is held once a month as a special event under the initiative of local volunteers. The Saturday programs ranged from physical activities, including dancing and playing catch, to a lesson in which parents and students drew cartoons. Some of the programs were designed to strengthen relationships between the school and students' families or the local community. 　The Oct. 8 class was the second of its kind in which students and their parents read newspapers together. 　Through its NIE programs, the school encourages all of its fifth- and sixth-grade students to collect newspaper clippings as homework, while providing full support for the NIE events of the Saturday classes. 　Moe Takahashi, a 25-year-old teacher in charge of a fifth-grade class, says she was impressed by the interest students showed in various topics through the NIE programs. "Even children in early grades can work on [the tasks] with the help of their mothers," she said. 　One of the local volunteers who manages the Saturday programs, Masato Oshima, 60, said: "I've heard some parents saying conversations with their children didn't last very long when they asked, 'How was school today?' Many parents [who attended the Oct. 8 class] said discussing social topics with their children was a new experience for them." 　Yuji Sueyoshi, the principal of the Honan school, said: "[Through the class] many parents seem to have become aware of the importance of daily conversations with their children, while the students have developed an interest in society. We'd like to provide them with more opportunities like this."